


The Paradise-In-Bloom

by loumauve (wintermallow)



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-12
Updated: 2014-03-12
Packaged: 2018-01-15 11:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1303660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintermallow/pseuds/loumauve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She remembers all those moments, and more as she softly traces the lines on the paper that’s been worn soft by the years."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Paradise-In-Bloom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miekhead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miekhead/gifts).



> another repost of something from tumblr, so I can keep it all in one place. written for miekhead all this time ago.
> 
> kudos for the title (and the last line) goes to Robert Frost.

 

 

> _"So remember forever the years spent together,_  
>  _and just remember for years after that."_ ([Years to Remember and Years After That - angel of passion 016](http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/years-to-remember-and-years-after-that/))

 

"Tell me again why I agreed to this?"

"Because you know how much this means to me." Leena replies with a warm smile, noticing how nervous Claudia looks and the way she’s fidgeting with her hands.

"And you really can’t just take a photograph?" Claudia isn’t even sure why she is so nervous. There’s just something about Leena that makes her stomach flutter. Normally she doesn’t mind, but right now she is not exactly convinced she’ll be able to hold still if Leena keeps looking at her like that.

And considering what she’s about to agree to.. there will be lots of looking and noticing on Leena’s end. Though, she supposes, this won’t be all that different from the moments when Leena knows she’s worried, or scared, or happy or sad about something simply because she’s read her aura.

So maybe she should just give in. After all, Leena can be quite persistent when there’s something she really wants. Claudia would have said it was annoying, some years ago, but now she just thinks it’s endearing and quite adorable.

Still lost in her inner debate she looks up to realise that Leena is looking at her intently, and Claudia realises that she has probably just missed the entire explanation.  
“I totally zoned out on you, didn’t I?”, she asks Leena with a sheepish, apologetic smile. “Sorry. Tell me again, please?”

Leena only smiles, and once more Claudia realises just how wonderful Leena truly is, because she kind of has to put up with a lot from her, doesn’t she? Claudia sighs softly, but also focuses on Leena’s words this time around.

"I said that if I just take a photograph I might forget one day, but if I sketch you there’s just no chance I’ll ever forget. And I always want to remember you, Claudia. So please?"

Claudia just sighs a little, but she already knows that she’ll agree. She likes it when Leena is happy the most, and since this will probably make her happy she might as well say yes.

"Alright.", she replies with a soft smile. "I mean, I pretty much already agreed the last time you asked, so..sure. Why not."

—

Years later find Leena looking through her old sketch books, because Claudia is away on a mission, and although there’s no reason to worry about her (no rational reason at least) she still misses her wife.

She finally gets to that one sketch she’d been looking for, the first of a series of sketches. All featuring a certain red head. And she _remembers_. 

She remembers how she had noticed that first spark, that warm feeling settling in her tummy, that night as she lay in her bed. Remembers Claudia’s eyes, and the way she was nervously fidgeting at first, but also the way she seemed to just let go after a while, settle in. Content to just let Leena do her thing.

She remembers noticing the little changes over the following weeks: the little, shy glances. How Claudia seemed to suddenly prefer spending time with her over time with Myka, and even Helena.

She remembers their first kiss, Claudia having found the courage to softly press her lips against Leena’s after just one more mission that could have ended badly.

She remembers when Claudia became the new Caretaker, remembers how she struggled at first to get used to her new role, but how it turned out just fine in the end. _Of course it did._

She remembers all those moments, and more as she softly traces the lines on the paper that’s been worn soft by the years.

What she doesn’t remember, can’t for the life of her recall though, is that little scribbled note at the bottom of the page.  
  


She studies it for a few moments, finally realising it has been written in Claudia’s handwriting, and that it's telling her to check the very last page.

 

There is one more sketch. One that she didn’t draw herself, couldn’t have drawn.

It’s her, sleeping. And the date reveals it wasn’t created long after her first sketch of Claudia.

Scribbled beneath it is: _“I think it’s only fair that I have a part of you, considering you already have a part of me.”  
_

 

Beneath that is one more line, the ink fresher, less worn away by years. _“I love you, beautiful. Always. -Claudia.”_

And even as she closes the book, already reaching for her Farnsworth to check in on Claudia she wipes away a few tears. She presses the book against her chest, smiles, and whispers _“I love you too.”_

 

_They are Innkeeper and Caretaker, and they have years to go before they sleep._


End file.
